Guinea-Bissau expels journalist; another flees into hiding

New
York, November 1, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Monday's
decision by authorities in Guinea-Bissau to expel Portuguese journalist
Fernando Teixeira Gomes from the country in connection with his critical
coverage of the transitional government.

The
Ministry of Communications sent a letter to Gomes, chief of the news bureau of
Portugal's state broadcaster Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP) in the Guinean capital, Bissau, ordering him to leave the
country the same week, Agence France-Presse reported. RTP Director
of Information Nuno Santos said in an interview with Portuguese
news agency LUSA that Gomes was leaving Guinea-Bissau and would arrive in
Portugal on Friday.

AFP reported that Gomes had
been accused of publishing "hostile reports" against the government. RTP had
broadcast extensive coverage of the exiled former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior (no relation to the journalist), who was critical of the
government and the military, according to local journalists.

Relations between Portugal and its former colony,
Guinea-Bissau, have deteriorated since Guinean military chief Gen.
Antonio Indjai staged an
April 12 coup
ahead of a runoff presidential election scheduled for April 29 that former
minister Gomes, who was backed by Portugal, was favored
to win, according to news reports. During the coup, troops detained António Aly Silva, a freelance journalist and blogger
based in Bissau, for nine hours after
he published photos of the military surrounding the residence of prime minister
Gomes, news
reports said.

After a
political deal was reached, the military junta transferred power in May to a civilian
transitional government, which has accused Portugal of masterminding
what it described as a failed counter-coup in October.

Presidential and legislative elections in
Guinea-Bissau are scheduled for April 2013.

Silva told CPJ that soldiers in an unmarked car
visited his residence this past weekend and threatened to kill him. Fearing for
his life, Silva has fled into hiding.

"The expulsion of Fernando Teixeira Gomes is a
setback for democracy ahead of presidential elections," said CPJ Africa
Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. "We are also alarmed by reports of official
intimidation against freelance journalist António Aly Silva and hold Guinean
authorities responsible for his well-being."

Gomes
is the second RTP journalist
expelled from Guinea-Bissau. In 2002, RTP was banned and João Pereira da Silva,
the station's burean chief, ordered to leave the country after the station was
accused of broadcasting "information that could tarnish the good image of
Guinea-Bissau abroad" in a program about a general who was killed after
leading an unsuccessful coup.

For more
data and analysis on Guinea-Bissau, visit CPJ's Guinea-Bissau page here.